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Word. Notebooks Dot Grid.

Back in November, Word. sent us a back of their new Dot Grid notebooks. And, hell, I feel badly that it took so long to review them — especially since I used one up right away.

So, usually, we conclude last. Today, at the start of a new year, we conclude first (which really challenges the definition of what a conclusion is, no?). Should you buy a set of these? Yes.

From what I can tell, we’ve got the same page and cover weight (see our 2013 review) as the usual Word. notebooks. This is a good thing. I love their paper, and they offer a chance to break out your Wopexen and really go to town. You don’t have to be ashamed to enjoy that odd, plastic beast. (Go here, and proclaim it even.)

Instead of the reminder/tracking/note system that I always ignore, there are 5 mm dots on the page. If you’re reading this far into a review on a pencil blog, you probably know what dot grid paper is for. You get the “blankness” of a plain page, with a gentler version of the rigid guides of graph paper.

That makes them great for the mean cartoons you’re working on, drawing maps to your favorite pencil shops and making lists of books to read in 2016.

I really like that the cover is also Dot-Gridded (can we make that a verb?). I often draw on my blankish Word. books, and this one was extra fun to mark up. My only gripe is that the dots themselves are a little too dark on the page for my liking. But I’ve recently used a notebook whose dots were faint enough to be essentially useless. I imagine this is a fine mark to hit, and I expect that if Word. hears that the dots are too dark enough times, the dots will get a little lighter. Of course, I could be off the mark, and folks might like them fine.

If I can dig up another gripe, it’s that I used these books up too quickly because they felt good in my pocket and made me want to draw a lot. But that’s really a plus.